


Just Her Luck

by ecjpeach



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action, Akumatized Chloe, Bad Decisions, Difficult Decisions, F/M, Family Secrets, Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste, Lies, Loss of Powers, Loss of Trust, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, School Dances, Trust
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7533835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ecjpeach/pseuds/ecjpeach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."</p><p>In Marinette's Paris, this sentiment seems more than a little out of place. After all, Ladybug does have the power of luck. But when a certain pair of earrings fall into the wrong hands at the end-of-the-year semiformal, Marinette is faced with a dangerous choice; to cry for help, revealing herself as Ladybug to her unpredictable partner, or to solve the problem without Chat Noir or her superpowers. And today, luck isn't at all on her side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Afternoon

ALYA: i brought you something exciting

ALYA: can't wait

MARINETTE: i cant either! see you in five

 

Marinette tossed her phone onto her bed in frustration. "Tikki, Alya absolutely did not have to get me something. Do I have to get something for her too? I don't have time!"

"No, I don't think so," Tikki said, fluttering over her shoulder. "She didn't tell you she was bringing a gift until now, so of course she doesn't expect something back. Why don't you work on your hair before she gets here?"

Marinette touched the top of her head self-consciously. "Work on it? Does it need work? It looks okay to me."

"You're going to a semi-formal, Marinette," Tikki giggled. "You probably want to put a little more effort into your appearance. Plus, wearing your hair differently might attract attention from a certain someone..."

"I think this dress will attract enough attention," Marinette said, ignoring the comment referring to her crush, Adrien. She stood up to admire herself in the mirror one more time. The dress she wore was a Dupain-Cheng original, and was actually the first dress she'd made for herself. It was a simple blue shift dress with a pale green lace overlay, inspired by the green of Adrien's eyes...

Yes, it was a little embarrassing to admit to herself why she picked that color, but nobody needed to know. Art is art, and art is based on emotion, after all.

"The only thing I wish I added was pockets!" Marinette murmured.

Just then, the trapdoor flipped open. Tikki dove behind a box on the dresser just as Alya swept Marinette into a bear hug. "You look gorgeous! Wow, I feel a little outdone," Alya smiled, smoothing down her own white dress.

"Ha ha, very funny," Marinette said, stepping back and turning back towards the mirror. "You look great, too. Do you think I should do something with my hair other than the pigtails?"

Alya grabbed her hand and pressed a small black box into it. "You might want to keep it up, away from your ears."

Upon hearing 'ears,' Marinette's heart sank. If this gift was what she thought it was...

She opened the box, Alya watching expectantly, to see a pair of beautiful pearl earrings.

"Alya, these are gorgeous!" Marinette exclaimed. "These must have been really expensive! You totally shouldn't have."

The brunette smiled, looking satisfied. "Yes, I should have. You only ever wear those old black ones, girl, and I think it's time for a change."

Oh, no. How was Marinette supposed to wear these to the semiformal? She needed her Miraculous in case something crazy happened!

"Thank you so much, Alya," she said, feeling a little bit queasy. "Oh, wait, do I hear your phone ringing from downstairs? You better go get it!"

Alya excused herself to chase the phantom phone ring, and Marinette dashed over to the dresser to conference with her kwami. "I have a bad feeling about this, Tikki. I don't really feel all that comfortable without you."

"Marinette, Alya will be hurt if you don't wear those earrings. Besides, Paris will be okay for one night, and you can still bring your Miraculous to the dance in your pocket. It'll all work out," Tikki assured her.

"Okay, then bye, Tikki, I guess. See you later tonight," Marinette said, reaching up to take out her Ladybug earrings.

"Goodnight Marinette! Have fun and stay safe!" Tikki said before she popped into the Miraculous. Spots appeared on their now red surfaces as Marinette put them safely into their case, then put the case in her pocket. Or tried to, at least.

"I really wish I gave this dress pockets," she said for a second time, picking the case up off the floor and putting in instead in the pocket of her sweater.

~~~

 

CHLOE: adrikins! u want to hang out with me before the dance dont u?

CHLOE: we can go as a couple!!!

CHLOE: u HAVE TO see my dress daddy had it made special

 

"Plagg! What do I say? I'm supposed to be going to semi with Nino, I already promised him I'd go! And I don't really want to go anywhere with Chloe, especially not as her date!"

The black kwami was more focused on the Camembert in front of him than Adrien's unfortunate situation. "I don't know. Tell her that she's mean and that she should not text you again."

Adrien sighed into his arms, letting his head hit the desk dramatically. "Why do I ever ask you to help with anything?"

"Because you love me," Plagg said, scarfing down a triangle of cheese.

He couldn't argue with that. Despite his sour attitude, Plagg was pretty great to have around, even just as company in the Agreste mansion.

"So I think I'm just going to tell Chloe that I'm sorry I can't go with her because I already have plans. That's reasonable, right?" Adrien picked up his phone. "Or I could just ignore her and pretend I didn't see it." He hesitated, before unlocking his phone with a kind of finality. "I'm going to respond. It's probably more respectful to just tell her how I'm feeling than to pretend I'm ignoring her or that I just don't care. Right?" He waited for a response, then muttered, "Right."

ADRIEN: I'm really sorry Chloe, I have some other plans for this evening.

"That sounds too harsh. Does it? I don't know."

"Jeez, kid. You aren't talking to Ladybug. Why do you care how you sound to Chloe? She's a brat."

Adrien relaxed at the mention of his favorite person. "Hey, do you think Ladybug'll be at the semiformal?"

"No?" Plagg said. "I don't know much about dances, but I don't think you want the superheroes there. That usually means there are villains close by."

Adrien smiled dreamily, not hearing the sarcastic answer. "It'll be like Cinderella. Ladybug's gonna show up, and we'll dance... Like a slow dance in the movies! Then, her costume is gonna wear off, and we'll finally know who she is... I'll finally know who she is!"

"And then you and Ladybug will ride off into the sunset and get a couple of bad sequels." Plagg darted right in front of Adrien's face. "Weren't you talking about Chloe? I'm sick of hearing about Ladybug."

The phone buzzed.

 

CHLOE: k but we re defiantly gonna hang out l8r

ADRIEN: Of course! Sorry again, and I'll see you at the dance!

 

"Does that sound fake?"

Plagg groaned. "I don't know or care. Go ask that friend of yours."

Adrien was relieved to have Nino peek his head in the door at that very moment, distracting him from his anxiety about his first dance, his interaction with Chloe, and the persistent idea of dancing with Ladybug and finding out who she really is under the mask.

~~~

It was not difficult to Akumatize Chloe. The girl was easy prey: constantly angry and outraged. Being rude to others and always expecting to get her way... She might deserve the rejection she felt. But she could be an ally to those who work for their own gain. She was not particularly ambitions herself but she knew the importance and value of power.

After being turned down by the Agreste boy, Chloe was easily persuaded to aid Hawkmoth in his acquisition of the Cat and the Ladybug Miraculous. The plan given to her was foolproof.

She would go to the semiformal dance. There, she would convince Ladybug to give her the Miraculous without a silly villainous appearance. She would transform into Ladybug herself, aided by the powers of the Akuma, and distract Chat Noir while Ladybug is searching for the Miraculous. Ladybug would come here, to the secret lair, and Hawkmoth would use her as a lure for the cat. As easy as that, without costumed drama or destruction of the city, the Miraculous would belong to Hawkmoth. And he alone would have absolute power, doing whatever he pleased with the world that had been unforgiving to him.

Hawkmoth had experienced more failure than success, but that would end tonight. He had learned from his mistakes and was ready to conquer and reach absolute power through the Miraculous. He was prepared for anything.

Tonight, luck was on his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone and thanks for reading! This is super exciting because this fic is my first multi-chapter fanfic I've ever published online. EVER. I'm pretty new to the Miraculous fandom as well as ao3, so bear with me please while I figure stuff out.
> 
> I plan to be uploading pretty regularly (hopefully once a week-ish) depending on my beta/editor's schedule (shoutout to abby and crew) and each chapter will probably be about this long (like 1.5k words, give or take). This first chapter was A LOT of exposition, but I promise it's gonna get intense real fast!
> 
> This fic is also published on Wattpad under the same account name and title.
> 
> Please comment with your constructive criticism and reactions! I want to learn from this process and adore feedback!
> 
> See you next week!
> 
> -E


	2. Evening

"This is totally weird," Marinette said as she and Alya entered the gym. Streamers and fairy lights hung from the balcony railings. A red carpet lined the staircase, presumably for dramatic entrances. As the party was just getting started, those who had arrived sat at tables on the far side of the gym, eating cheese and crackers apprehensively. One of Nino's signature party tracks shook the room. When Marinette looked over to the DJ booth, her headphone-wearing classmate waved to her.

"Let's go say hi," Alya said.

"Okay." They walked around the edge of the empty dance floor, but about halfway across the gym, Marinette froze. "We can't go over there."

"Why?" Alya started to ask, but answered her own question almost immediately. There, leaning against the DJ booth, was a classily-dressed, bored-looking Adrien.

Marinette grabbed Alya's arm and started to back away, but Alya was having none of that. "Um, no. Girl, you look spectacular. And everybody's feeling a little nervous. We're just going to say hi, and you're going to talk to Adrien." She twisted her grip so that she was the one leading, and pulled Marinette forward.

"He looks so good in black," Marinette sighed.

As they approached the speakers, the girls realized saying hi would be more difficult than they thought. Alya tried to yell over the music, but the music was so loud the boys shook their heads and waved, giggling. Marinette was secretly relieved that a full conversation had been avoided. She stood slightly behind Alya, watching Adrien laugh at their inability to hear one another. His smile was genuine, not just polite as usual... And his suit looked designer, with a perfect fit. When he met Marinette's gaze and gave her a 'hello' nod, she could feel her face turn bright red. She tried to regain her composure, to slow down her rapid heartbeat, but was only successful enough to wave shyly and step further behind her best friend.

She leaned over and spoke into Alya's ear. "I need to use the restroom."

Alya looked at her with a knowing smirk, then shrugged and waved at Nino. Off to the bathroom, then!

The bathroom was deserted. In private, Marinette was able to express her emotions physically as she usually did. She threw her hands in the air and began to pace in front of the mirrors. "That was close," she said. "I almost had to talk to him!"

"Marinette!" Alya scolded. "You're going to have to talk to him anyway. And he was totally checking you out. That dress is so cute!"

Marinette leaned over the sink, pulling on her pigtails absentmindedly. "You really think so?"

"I know so. C'mon. I'm sure more people are here by now. Let's go dance!" Alya pushed the door open. "You coming?"

"Um, I think I'm going to go... check on my sweater," she stammered, referring to the sweater she'd left on a hook in the lobby. Secretly, she wanted the chance to talk to Tikki. And the discomfort she felt wearing the new pearl earrings as opposed to her Miraculous was only growing.

Alya looked out into the gym, then back at her friend. "It looks like the first slow dance is starting. C'mon! I want to see how Adrien is going to deal with Chloe hanging on him!"

The idea of Adrien dancing with Chloe was enough to make her want to vomit into a toilet, but Marinette swallowed and shook her head. "Yeah, no, gotta make sure no one's stolen my phone!"

With a disapproving shake of her head, Alya left the bathroom to observe the drama. Marinette tiptoed after her, hugging the wall and not looking up at the rowdy scene unfolding. It looked as if every kid in her grade was at the dance by now, and it was almost a struggle to get to the door and slip out into the lobby.

But as soon as she got the the coat rack, Marinette could tell that something was seriously wrong. Her sweater was tossed to the floor, and the box which held her Miraculous--

"It's gone!" she gasped out loud. The back of her neck began to heat up, and her stomach plunged as she realized what this might mean.

Her Miraculous! Tikki!

She tore through the rest of the coats, checking every pocket frantically, before rushing back inside the gym. Someone had to have taken it, one of her classmates, not Hawkmoth or an Akumized villain. She was going to find them in no time.

She crashed into Mylene at the back of a huge group of kids, almost landing flat on her face. They all seemed to be huddled around a dancing couple, presumably Chloe and Adrien. Blech. But where was Alya? Apologizing to her friend, she scanned the crowd.

She saw a flash coming from the inside of the mob and recognized it immediately as that of Alya's phone. Without hesitation, she shoved her way to her best friend, who was wearing a wide smile and filming the scene. Marinette stepped in front of the camera to get her attention, but the vlogger hissed, "Get down!"

"Alya! I need help!" she cried, waving wildly.

"Get. Down." Alya said again, and Marinette had never seen her friend more focused. Whatever she was filming, it was a big deal. She turned to face the couple dancing.

And if her stomach had dropped to the floor a moment ago, it had drilled its way into the Earth's core now.

In front of her she saw an ecstatic Adrien and a smug-looking Ladybug.

~~~

This is totally weird, Adrien thought once he was capable of thinking.

He couldn't think of the name of the awkward slow dance song was playing, but he could tell you the exact Pantone color of his Lady's eyes. 2191 UP.

He couldn't feel the heat radiating off the kids around them, but her gloved fingertips on his shoulders burned through his jacket.

He should have been able to smell the sweat and body spray of a typical dance, but the delicate scent of her shampoo was overwhelming.

This is totally weird.

In an effort not to pass out, Adrien tried to focus on things other than her piercing blue eyes, the light pressure of her hands, the hint of a smile across her lips.

Like Plagg, squirming in his pocket, probably disgusted.

The kids around him: Alya, filming, presumably for the Ladyblog. Nino, looking thoroughly overwhelmed at the DJ booth. Sabrina, standing alone, looking lost.

Usually watching people calmed Adrien down. But now, his favorite person to watch was right in front of him, and he couldn't meet her gaze...

He needed to relax. He was Chat Noir, Paris's favorite superhero. He could do anything.

But in this scene, he remembered, he was just Adrien. And Ladybug didn't know she was dancing with her crime-fighting partner. In his ordinary daydreams, he always saw this-- their first real moment together-- from behind a mask. He always assumed charismatic Chat would get the girl, not bland Adrien. The sudden realization that he had no mask to hide behind, that Ladybug was dancing with Adrien, made him feel self-conscious. Was he doing this right? Is this how people danced? Was the gathering of kids around them normal? Did his breath smell okay?

You're overthinking it, a small part of him said. This is Ladybug, not someone you don't know.

That three-minute song was the longest three minutes of his life, but it wasn't long enough.

The song faded into silence, and Ladybug squeezed Adrien's hand. Without a word, she tossed her yo-yo into the air, swung upward, and disappeared into the dark sky above.

There was a moment of silence from the teens below. They listened to Alya wrapping up her broadcast and Nino fumbling with the music, too distracted by the appearance of the superheroine to play another song. They tilted their heads to watch the sky, an empty expanse deep navy blue visible behind sheets of glass.

And then all at once, there were cheers and shouts as boys came up to clap Adrien on the back, girls squealing, music exploding into the room as Nino remembered he was being paid to DJ. And everyone danced, in celebration of Adrien's feat and of their own unobstructed view of Paris's graceful savior.

Adrien smiled quietly, wanting nothing more than to meditate on those three minutes alone for the rest of his life. But when Alya pulled him aside for an exclusive interview, he answered all her questions ("Do you know Ladybug personally? What is her secret identity? Are you dating? Did she give you her number?") with humility and class ("No, I don't know, no, and I wish."). The rest of the dance passed in a blur of bodies and music.

Adrien was completely satisfied. What a night!

Chat Noir, on the other hand, was a tiny bit suspicious. That scene was far too good to be true. He'd think if that were to happen, if Ladybug came to the dance to see him, something would go wrong.

And that's when he realized Chloe hadn't showed up. What did that mean? She was so excited, and it was so unlike her to miss a school dance...

Was this his fault?

Maybe.

"You okay, bro?" Nino asked. "You look stressed out." Oops. 

"I'm great," Adrien smiled quickly. "I just danced with Ladybug. How could I be stressed out?"

Hearing these words coming from his own mouth soothed him. It was true, after all. Even thinking of Ladybug put him at ease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the second chapter of "Just Her Luck"! Ah, the cliché of a middle-school dance. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, but the next one might be a little more difficult :) brace yourselves for some angst...
> 
> Be sure to comment with your constructive criticism and reactions and to share with friends, and thanks so much for reading!
> 
> See you next week!
> 
> -E


	3. Dusk

As much as Marinette wished to stand in stunned silence, she had to think. Who was the girl so close to Adrien with her mask and her pigtails?

She broke away from the dancefloor, retreating back to the mess of a coat rack to breathe and to think. When was the last time there were two Ladybugs? Well, there was Alix's akumatization, where she had to go back in time. There was a possibility that the Ladybug in the gym really was Marinette from the future. But somehow, that didn't seem right. The powers of Timebreaker were so specific in how they allowed time-travel. And the mysterious Ladybug didn't seem to be fighting any akuma'd villains.

The only other time there was another Ladybug in Paris was when Chloe dressed up in the signature spots for fun, and Alya spread the rumor that she was the real deal. The second Ladybug in that Lady Wifi episode, however, still wore heavy blue eyeshadow and bleached hair.

Where was Chloe today, anyway? She usually made a lot of racket at these kinds of events...

Another memory, one of a double-Chat Noir, surfaced in Marinette's mind. That time, the two were identical. Even Ladybug couldn't tell them apart for a while! But that doppelganger was a villain aided by an akuma, right?

The song ended, and the other room fell into a hush as the iconic swish of a yo-yo signaled the departure of Paris's teen guardian. The silence hung suspended in the air, untouched by any indignant shrieks from any blonde queen bees.

And in that silence, looking down at her rumpled white sweater on the floor, the pieces of the puzzle slid into place.

It wasn't just any classmate who had taken her Miraculous. It was Chloe Bourgeois. An akumatized Chloe Bourgeois, masquerading as a perfect Ladybug, who had the capability to actually become the heroine. And she had Tikki.

Marinette started to feel nauseous. Suddenly her blue-green dress felt constricting and stiff. She needed to get out of this dance and find Tikki and her superhero identity, and she needed to get out right then. She'd text Alya later, she promised. But this-- this was more urgent than anything else she'd ever had to make excuses for.

The Parisian streets dropped in temperature as the sun went down, so she was glad to have swiped her sweater off the ground. She walked out of her school and down the front steps cautiously at first, but as panic really started to set in she broke into a run. Thank God Alya told her to wear flats!

Marinette decided that she was going to have to intercept the transaction between Chloe and Hawk Moth, the supervillian she assumed she was serving. She didn't know the direction Chloe had traveled, nor where in Paris Hawk Moth cackled and babysat his butterflies. So, her first instinct was to head to the Eiffel Tower, the only place she had ever interacted with Le Papillon. She would arrive there, find out what Hawk Moth needed her Miraculous for, meet Chat Noir, and come up with a plan...

THUD.

Marinette gasped as she fell forward, landing hard on her right arm. Chat Noir, she thought, wincing in pain and inspecting her scraped knees and hands. Blood oozed out of the abrasions, and if she wasn't so stunned, she would have been upset to ruin her white sweater. Chat Noir. I need his help now more than ever. He could help me search Paris, and he's graceful and not this klutzy...

She reached absentmindedly to her hip, ready to call him over straight away. Where was that damn cat when you needed him? But, of course, she didn't have her yo-yo at her side. And she didn't have any way to contact her partner.

While she stumbled to sit down at a covered bus stop, grimacing, Marinette had another thought. This one was entirely unwelcome in the severity of the situation. Her Miraculous was gone, Tikki was gone, and probably already in the grasp of Paris's most dangerous criminal. It seemed silly, juvenile to even consider, but Marinette did anyway.

Calling Chat would mean revealing her secret identity to him. And Marinette wasn't sure if getting his help was worth compromising her identity.

If Chat knew who she was, he could easily let it slip to someone else.Sure, she trusted him, but better be safe than sorry. Because if Hawk Moth knew that Marinette was his arch-nemesis, he could find out where she lived. He could hurt her family.

Maybe it was silly to prioritize the chance of her secret getting out over getting help to reclaim her Miraculous. Maybe it was silly to put her parents before Paris.

The unwelcome, selfish thought didn't flutter away, however. Once she realized what the implications of working with her partner now would mean, she couldn't forget them. And like a purple shadow falling over her eyes, a petit papillon settling in the pit of the stomach, Marinette could sense the heaviest twist of them all in this mission. She would be facing whatever lies in front of her alone.

~~~

Adrien practically floated back to the Agreste mansion. He almost forgot to thank his driver as he slid from the backseat of the car in a daze. Even though he'd left the dance early at his father's request, he stumbled upstairs with the air of one returning to their home at four in the morning.

The blond model was so distracted he almost used the wrong shampoo in the shower-- not the 2-in-1, lest his hair sit limp and dull for his next photo shoot. He forgot which of his two closets held his favorite tee shirt, and spent at least five minutes rummaging through a bin of dress socks before he realized he was looking in the wrong place. And most importantly, he forgot where he put the Camembert. 

Plagg was in a foul mood, as expected; the kwami was forced to have spent the last four hours in Adrien's pocket without any cheese at all. On top of that, he didn't seem to be nearly as excited about Adrien's romantic success as the boy was.

"Oh, shut up," Adrien grinned. "You're just mad because you were wrong."

Plagg darted around the room, checking in every drawer for his cheese. "Wrong about what? The fact that girls wouldn't come within five feet of you unless they were under the influence?"

"No, about Ladybug not showing up," Adrien said.

"Ha! I wasn't wrong about that," Plagg grumbled, finding a coin-sized chunk of Camembert behind the desktop monitor and dropping in down his throat. "That was a real suspicious Ladybug. I'd bet it wasn't even her! She didn't say anything at all! And she kept looking at your ring, did you notice?"

Adrien stretched out onto his bed. "I don't know what you're talking about. You shouldn't even have been watching. All that about staying hidden, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

But now that Plagg had mentioned it, and now that Adrien had the mental space to think about that dance, Ladybug was acting a little bit weird. Maybe she was just shy around people other than Chat Noir? That would make sense. Plus, Adrien definitely remembered that she had her Miraculous earrings in. That had to have been her. It was her.

With that comforting thought, Adrien fell asleep quickly for the first time in years. The evening couldn't have been better.

~~~

The evening couldn't have been better. The Bourgeois girl had not only succeeded in her mission, but it had been even easier than Hawk Moth had anticipated. She didn't even have to convince Ladybug to take out her Miraculous-- the dumb girl did it herself, and left them out in the open for anyone to claim! The twist of irony was that luck was working in Hawk Moth's favor tonight.

All that was left was for "Ladybug"to lure the real Ladybug to a place she could be easily cornered. It seemed appropriate to make that place the center of Paris, the only place Hawk Moth had ever directly laid eyes on the girl-- the Eiffel Tower. If Luck continued to side with him, Ladybug would walk right into his trap. And it would be simple to obtain the Cat Miraculous after that.

Hawk Moth held the red earrings in the palm of his hand, watching dark clouds roll over the City of Lights. He held the power to build upon its magic and mystery, the power to create a new future for his city and its people. All he needed now was the power to wipe the existing imperfections away, the power to start with a clean slate. Then, he, Hawk Moth, would be Paris's God. Ah, that certainly had a nice ring to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just finished reading The Cursed Child and... wow. It was a roller coaster from start to finish, that's for sure. I've been updating on Tuesdays, but it might be Wednesday or Thursday next week due to wacky wifi at my summer house and the emotional recovery time I'm allowing myself from HP...
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and be sure to comment with your reactions and constructive criticism! And tune in next time to see whether Marinette's gut instincts are correct about where her Miraculous may be and where Hawkmoth is waiting for her...


	4. Night

Marinette approached the plaza under the tower cautiously. Pulling her sweater tighter around her shoulders, she crept against the trees lining the main walkway, doing her best to stay in the shadows. Sure, tourists were milling about, taking their selfies and drinking questionable substances from water bottles, but there were no other teen girls wandering alone. And Marinette had no idea if Hawk Moth would recognize her out of costume. Maybe he was more intelligent than the majority of Paris. 

She walked for what seemed like hours. The path went on in a straight line, and the perfectly manicured, uniform trees gave the illusion that Marinette hadn't made any progress toward the landmark at all. Loudly chatting Americans up ahead (unaffected by timezone changes, apparently) prevented her footsteps from being heard, but she could hear her own heart beating out of her chest. She had thought she'd felt adrenaline before, fighting villains and talking to Adrien... but this was a whole new level of anticipation and even fear. The Ladybug in her reminded her she had no choice but to proceed, that she had defeated many an evil butterfly before-- why was this any different?

The Ladybug in her was the only thing that kept her together.

And it took minutes, adrenaline-induced _hours_ of Marinette-time, to reach the stone plaza under the looming Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower has always been a part of Marinette's life-- just in the backround, an iconic piece of an otherwise normal urban setting. Like part of the landscape of a TV show. But in the dark, late at night... It felt sinister. The curved steel beams seemed colder when not shining in the sun. And once you got up close, the tower seemed a whole lot taller. In fact, Marinette thought grimly, this would be a great setting for a villain to build his secret lair underground.

She stood under the final tree in the organized row for a bit, suddenly realizing a flaw in her plan. She didn't know where, when, or how Hawk Moth would show up. He could be on the other side of Paris, for all she knew! Or, he could be standing right behind her...

She turned.

Nope, he wasn't right behind her. She sighed. What would Ladybug do?

Ladybug wouldn't do anything yet, part of her said. It's Chat Noir's job to lure the akumatized citizen out into the open, and her job to capture their akuma.

Well, Chat Noir wasn't there. And he always complained that being bait was the easy part, so why couldn't Ladybug be bait too? Thinking of how Chat would tease her if she couldn't even face Hawk Moth head-on, she stamped out into the open with her hands on her hips. "Come and get me," she whispered, not taking her eyes off the tower in front of her.

With all her crime-fighting experience, Marinette should have realized that her open invitation would be accepted. Maybe doubting her own instincts led her to think that Hawk Moth was far away, and didn't give a damn about a little girl in pink capris strutting around in the middle of the night. She might have been too heavily relying on her power of luck, her power that had been stripped away and that she was so used to having. Marinette, after all, usually could act rashly when she wanted to prove something in her day-to-day life without being attacked. Ladybug, however, needed a cool head. The lack of costume most likely made Marinette forget that there were _always_ consequences to her actions.

\---

The tourists didn't notice the muffled shriek, nor the weird rustling from the bushes behind them until it was too late. Alya didn't notice her friend leaving the dance early until it was too late. Marinette's parents didn't realize their daughter didn't come home until it was too late.

Marinette didn't realize her mistake until far, far too late.

She sat in the corner of the room, hands tied behind her back, with nothing to do but think. The concrete floor was cold. The room was dark. The whole scene was straight out of a movie.

Marinette ran through her predicament over and over again. She was in a room, with her hands tied behind her back, without her Miraculous or Tikki or Chat Noir. She was put there by Hawk Moth, presumably. She had a huge bruise on her arm to match her scraped knees from earlier, and she was starting to develop burns on her wrists from the coarse and oh-so-cliché rope she had struggled against. She woke up without her cell phone or any idea what time it was.

Her mistake, of course, was acting to get her Miraculous back without any powers herself. Or without her partner.

When she got sick of feeling sorry for herself, she pictured what should have happened. She pictured going to the tower with Chat at her side, ignoring the fact he now knew who she was. She pictured him effortlessly leaping onto and disarming Hawk Moth or whatever crony he was using. She pictured developing a plan of attack with him. Utilizing strategy and not just diving into who-knows-what battle unarmed and unprepared.

Well, it wasn't like there was much of a battle. If there _was_ a battle on the plaza, Marinette sure didn't remember it.

It felt like days in the cell until the wooden door was thrust open. Marinette pushed herself further into the far corner of the room, blinking in the sudden light and holding her breath. If there wasn't fog curling over the ground in a dramatic bad guy reveal, Marinette was just dehydrated.

In stepped Ladybug. She tossed a sleeve of crackers and a half-crushed single-serve water bottle to the ground. "Hi, Mari. You'll be having guests soon, so make yourself presentable," she cackled. The familiar voice sent chills down Marinette's spine.

"Hi, Chloe. Thanks for the heads up," she said, as confidently as she could.

"It's _Ladybug_ ," Chloe spat. "And you're lucky my master is generous enough to keep you alive-- for now." She turned on her heels and slammed the door behind her, leaving Marinette scrambling for her meal.

_Her master._ Wonder who that could be, Marinette thought sarcastically, taking a small sip of her water. Why did Hawk Moth want her alive? She assumed he was the guest, but was he coming to talk, or worse?

Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, and honestly, Marinette didn't expect to make it out of this cell in one piece. Her water might be poisoned. Hawk Moth was coming in, maybe to kill her himself. She was going to die by herself, in her silly green dress and white-turning-brown sweater, without Tikki or a goodbye to her parents and Alya. And she was positive of that. That is, until the door swung open for the second time and Adrien Agreste was thrown to the ground next to her.

\---

Adrien woke with a start when his phone buzzed.

Nobody ever texted him at night. The only person he ever talked to on his phone was Nino, and Nino didn't use his phone after 8. So who was this?

He leaned over to his bedside table sleepily, almost knocking over a glass of water.

The text was from "Withheld Number" and had an attached video. He unlocked his phone (it took him three tries in his sleepy state) and opened it. It read:

_Eiffel Tower Midnight Or She Dies_

The video thumbnail was of Ladybug, bound and gagged.

_This can't be real,_ Adrien thought. _This can't be real-- I'm dreaming._ But Plagg, about as awake as Adrien was, flew lazily from across the room to see what he was gaping at. He looked at the phone, and  turned to Adrien, his expression unreadable. "You gotta go," Plagg said. "You have to check it out."

"Plagg!" Adrien whispered, panicked. "How do they know I'm Chat Noir? How do they have my number?"

"I don't know, dude. I don't know. You have to go and make sure she's okay."

Adrien tossed his sheets aside and practically fell out of bed. Plagg hovered in midair as he pulled on yesterday's shirt and pants.

"Plagg, transform me."

\---

Chat Noir usually swung into action with theatrical flair and a pun at the ready. Tonight, he slid from his window agitated and more scared than he had ever felt in his life. It didn't feel right to be leaping from rooftop to rooftop without Ladybug, so he jogged. Plus, if her kidnapper knew his secret identity, he would expect to see Chat taking off from the helicopter pad of the Agreste mansion as he usually did.

The streets felt emptier than usual. Clouds had rolled in overhead, and the windows that lined the streets were dark. The straight lines of the city blocks and uniformity of the buildings made everything feel a lot like a movie set, especially when there weren't buses and people and noisy cafes. Chat ran silently at first, but the longer he ran and the longer he thought about Ladybug alone, the more desperate he became. Although he could usually run across the first _arrondissement_ without tiring, tonight he felt a side stitch developing and his feet decided now would be the perfect time to start aching.

Chat Noir, just like any kitten, was easily distracted. With his Lady in jeopardy, with operating on little sleep, with his body not cooperating as usual, it might be an understatement to say he wasn't quite on top of things. So when he heard that scream from an alley to his left, he immediately turned to investigate. It could be Ladybug, after all.

It was Ladybug. A Ladybug with a chloroform-doused cloth and a perch high above this alley cat's line of sight. A Ladybug that silently lowered herself to the ground, cloaked in shadow, and had her hand over Chat's mouth faster than he could say, "Cataclysm!"

_This is so cliché_ , he thought, before he crumpled to the ground and his vision faded to black.

 

Adrien woke up an hour later with no ring on his finger, in the dark. And he wasn't alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! This was a pretty intense chapter, to say the least. Now Adrienette is trapped together under Hawk Moth's control. Awkward. Who's going to come clean with their secret identity first? What will Hawk Moth do with his ~ultimate power~? And, most importantly, is Adrien going to comment on Marinette's green-eye-inspired dress? Leave your predictions, reactions, and constructive criticism in the comments, and thanks for reading! See you next Tuesday!
> 
> P.S. Anyone watching Steven Universe? Smokey's introduction was pretty *miraculous*, amirite?


	5. Dawn

"Adrien?"

He couldn't see who his companion was, which was unusual as well as frustrating. He was used to being able to see in the dark. The voice sounded distinctly feminine and too familiar.

"Adrien," she said again, but it was more of a statement this time. "Are- are you okay?"

"Okay," he croaked. "I'm okay. Do you have water?"

He felt a cheap plastic bottle press into his hands. "Sit up before you drink that," she said, reaching behind his shoulders to help him off the ground. He didn't feel his back aching until he realized he needed her support to move. His wrists also stung, and he was suddenly aware of the rope that tied them tightly together.

"Can you cut these?" he said, shaking his hands behind his back.

She took his wrist, muttered, "Don't move," and he felt the ropes slacken.

"Thanks." Finding the wall next to her, he pulled his knees to his chest and took a small sip of the water. The bottle was only a third full, and he had enough manners to not down the whole thing despite his throat burning.

As his vision adjusted, he saw he was sitting on the concrete floor of a cell. It looked as plain and dirty as what you'd imagine in the movies, except the door was completely solid and there wasn't even a crummy-looking sink.

"You can drink more of that," the girl next to him insisted, and suddenly, Adrien recognized the voice. And the pigtails. He shifted away from her in surprise.

"Ladybug!?"

The girl shook her head quickly, looking confused. "What? No! You- you don't recognize me? It's Marinette! From school," she added, brushing her hair our of her face.

"Ah, yes, of course. Sorry. You totally sounded like Ladybug for a second. That's who I was looking for, actually." He smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring. "I think I was drugged. It's wearing off still. Hi, Marinette. How are you?"

She gaped at him.

Oops.

"You were looking for Ladybug?" she asked. "Why were you looking for Ladybug?"

Adrien sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He had a big mouth sometimes, especially while trying to be smooth. Should he just tell her that he was Chat Noir? They were in a bit of a predicament currently. Maybe a life-or-death situation. Marinette might not even believe him, as he had no way to prove his Chat Noir-ness. And if he told her that he was looking for Ladybug because she had been kidnapped, then the poor girl would panic. Her city's heroes couldn't do anything to save her, and if Adrien weren't one of them, he'd be devastated about that too.

It might be best to keep his identity secret to keep Marinette calm.

"Well, yeah," he said. "Were you at the dance? I had the pleasure of dancing with her, and she, uh, told me to meet her in the park later. So, um, I did! And then I was attacked... And now I'm here. Do you have any idea where we are? I assumed we were attacked by the same person."

Marinette shook her head again. He noticed she was wearing pearl earrings, which felt a little unlike her, but maybe this was the wrong time to analyze her fashion choices. "I was just walking home after the dance, and I'm not sure what happened. I woke up here. Do you need more water? Can I have some?"

He passed her the bottle. "Do we get more of this?"

"I don't know," she said, unscrewing the cap. "I had crackers earlier, but I'm so sorry-- I ate them. I'm sure we'll get more water and food, if they gave some to me in the first place."

Hearing Marinette talk about food made Adrien remember that he didn't know where Plagg was. Or his ring.

"So how are we getting out of this?" he asked quietly.

She lowered the bottle from her lips. "What?"

"How are we getting out? I mean, I need Pla- I need to go home."

Marinette looked down at her feet, pulling her legs into her chest to match his. He realized she was still in her semi dress.

At least _he_ was a superhero. Marinette was just a girl, a girl whom he realized might have been here for hours without any company. She was cold and tired, thirsty and hungry, and judging from the bits of dried blood on her knees, she was in pain. Adrien guessed she had made the green dress she was wearing herself, thinking of the design sketchbook she drew in during lunch.

Adrien dealt with superhero crap all the time. Yeah, being trapped in a dark cell was a little extreme, but Marinette-- she wasn't a hero.

She was going to a school dance to hang out with her friends. Her parents probably cared about the fact she hadn't come home. Her family was worried. She was scared for her life.

Adrien scooted closer to her and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to be insensitive. I'm sure you're pretty freaked out. I'm scared too. We can take our time to get out of this. I mean, it's obvious they're holding us for ransom." He winced at his own white lie. "The police will take care of it."

Marinette leaned into him hesitantly, taking a shaky breath. "I don't know why they'd want me for ransom, especially not when they have teen model and heartthrob Adrien Agreste."

He laughed. "Yeah, well, I bet they saw how cute you looked in that dress and assumed you were a model too."

She shifted under his arm. Dammit Adrien, he warned himself. Worst time for flirting EVER.

They sat in silence for a while. There wasn't much to say. Marinette's breathing slowed, and he thought maybe she had fallen asleep. He didn't dare move.

Adrien prayed that as they sat, Ladybug was kicking butt somewhere else and single-handedly taking down her captor, coming to rescue them. Hell, they might even be in the same building. _Someone_ must know they were missing. If not him, there should be authorities searching for Marinette, who should have been home a long time ago. If Ladybug could take down akumas alone, she could get through whatever crook got her in the first place. She could swipe up his Miraculous, too, because she'd recognize it if she passed it. And she'd come bursting in any moment now, ready to escort them both home.

He knew objectively this was just a fantasy. If Ladybug was restrained long enough for someone to get a video of her, she'd still be stuck. Plus, there was always the possibility that their captor wasn't just any standard Paris criminal. Actually, despite his attempts to push that thought away, it seemed more and more likely that a specific villain was behind the attacks. One that knew about Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous.

This could be Hawk Moth, right?

If it was, he probably had both sets of Miraculous in his hands by now. Adrien didn't want to think about what that meant. And if it was Hawk Moth behind this, it meant he needed to get out of this cell fast.

Chat Noir wasn't good at analyzing situations. That was Ladybug's thing.

"I wish Ladybug was here," he whispered to himself.

Marinette sat up. So she hadn't been asleep at all. "I wish Chat Noir was here," she said, turning away from him.

"Why? Ladybug's the one that does all the work."

"That's what you'd think. I don't know. I've met Chat Noir before, and he just seems like the most relaxed guy. He's never nervous, or, at least, he never shows it. He would be the best person to be stuck in a cell with, you know?"

Adrien laughed darkly. If only she knew.

Well, screw it. They'd die soon anyway. He might as well die an honest person.

He stood up, watching Marinette's eyes widen, and took Chat's signature dramatic bow. "Then today's your lucky day, princess."

Marinette covered her mouth with her hand slowly. She looked as though she was physically holding in her reaction, because her eyes were completely unreadable.

"Sorry, Marinette. I should have said something earlier. I just- It's hard to reveal your identity. And I'm sorry I don't have a better plan to get us out of this. You do... you believe me, right?" He slid back to the floor, this time leaving a generous distance between him. As he'd never told anyone else before, he had no idea how she'd react.

"Of course. Of course!" Marinette spoke from behind her hand with the air of a detective putting the final pieces of the puzzle together, not like she was answering his question. He pretended she was anyway.

"Good. You're the first person I've told, so I'm glad." He took a deep breath. "Thanks."

"Chat Noir. A-Adrien," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm so, so sorry."

He hated seeing her cry. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Good news is, Ladybug's gonna come any minute now. She will. I don't have my Miraculous, my ring, which is why I didn't Cataclysm us the hell out of here in the first place. But Ladybug'll find a way to get here."

Marinette shook her head. "I- I can't..."

"Shhh, it's okay. We're okay. We're gonna wait this out. Or, if you want, we can take matters into our own hands. I don't want to push you, but we can come up with a plan."

Marinette wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her sweater. "We need a plan. We do need a plan. Sorry- I look like a mess."

Adrien laughed. "You look like a mess? Marinette, I hope you're concerned about less superficial issues than that. So, what is this plan?"

He hoped he wasn't putting too much pressure on her, but just like Ladybug, Marinette seemed to pull herself together quickly when reminded of the problem. He passed her the water bottle, which only had a few sips left, but she pushed it away. Adrien set it down in front of her anyway.

There was a pause before Marinette did a double-take, looking down at the water bottle. She then glanced to the right, and Adrien followed her gaze to the piece of broken glass she had used to cut the ropes off his wrist. Marinette met his eyes. "Okay. I have an idea. It's stupid, but hey, so is sitting in the dark."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Thanks for reading, and tune in next Tuesday to find out what Marinette's stupid plan entails and whether it's successful! Where is Chat's ring? Is Hawkmoth the criminal mastermind behind this? And is Ladybug ever going to make an appearance? Please leave predictions, reactions, and constructive criticism in the comments because your feedback is what keeps me motivated.
> 
> Peace and love,
> 
> -E


	6. Morning

"Okay. I have an idea. It's stupid, but hey, so is sitting in the dark," Marinette said, more bravely than she felt. "Do you think you could make a decent weapon out of this bottle?"

Adrien nodded. "By using the glass to rip it up into something pointy, sure. Yeah, I can do that, but I'm sure just using the glass might be just as-- if not more-- efficient as a weapon."

"No, we need the glass for something else. If you would start working on that, please, I'll explain. Just need to think through some things." 

She watched Adrien pick up the bottle reluctantly and start to poke through the plastic with the edge of the glass. The longer she observed him, the more believable it was that she was sitting next to her crime-fighting partner. They had the same Rapunzel-esque golden hair, the same frustrated exhale, the same focused head tilt.

Chat Noir really was the ideal partner in a situation like this. He knew exactly when to ask questions and when to stay silent for sanity's sake, allowing Marinette to collect and finish her thoughts. He knew exactly what to say. Even in revealing his secret identity, Chat did so for Marinette's comfort. He would have been horrified if he knew that Ladybug was here with him.

For the first time in the cell, Marinette felt guilty. She had always thought of her secret identity as crucial to her family and Paris's safety. But who knows how much danger her family was in now, when Hawk Moth held both sets of Miraculous and the accompanying absolute, magical power.

Her heart stopped as she realized this. If she was here with Adrien, Chat Noir, then it was certain that Hawk Moth was out in Paris with immeasurable control and authority. For all she knew, her parents were dead.

She pushed the intrusive thought away with a grimace. And it would take telling Chat that the Ladybug Miraculous were gone to be able to share the severity of their situation with him. What good would that do? Make him more anxious and prone to making irrational decisions? (As much as she hated to admit it, and as calm as he was when there were no weapons around, he was pretty good at acting rashly in the heat of the moment.)

However, it might have been beneficial to tell Adrien of her identity now, while they were in a relatively calm space. Especially considering Chloe masquerading as Ladybug would be by any minute. Who knows how Chat Noir would react to seeing 'his lady' working for Hawk Moth?

Marinette decided to not warn him of Ladybug's appearance ahead of time. If she couldn't prove that she was the real deal, there's no point in telling him that Chloe wasn't.

_C'mon, Marinette, y_ _ou need to tell him._

Marinette whipped around. "Tikki!?"

"What was that?" Adrien said without looking up.

"Oh, nothing!" Marinette squeaked. "Just-- sorry." She could have sworn she heard her kwami's delicate voice in her ear. Maybe she was just used to having her voice of reason be an actual voice. Regardless, rememberance of Tikki's absence on top of all the other pressure laid on her caused her eyes to start leaking again. Tikki was counting on her. Tikki was counting on this dumb plan to somehow work. And it was going to take luck, which was something Marinette didn't have access too recently.

"This isn't gonna do much damage." Adrien held up the bottom half of the water bottle, edged with roughly-cut inch long spikes.

"It won't have to, if you aim for the eyes," Marinette said, wiping her own on the sleeve of her now grey sweater.

Adrien (or Chat Noir, it seemed) cracked a smile. "Dude. That's hardcore."

"Don't call me 'dude.' And desperate times call for desperate measures, right?" She took a deep breath. "So, we obviously can't open the doors ourselves. So we'll wait for Chlo- ah, someone to give us more food and water, which should be relatively soon, as I've been here for a while and they haven't come since you got here. Our goal is to get past whoever comes and then get down the hallway. I'm assuming you can kick some guard butt in said hallway, if we're important enough to require guarding. You are Chat Noir, after all. You can handle that, can't you?"

"Of course, Marinette. I can handle that. So we just smack people in the face? That's the plan?"

She rolled her eyes. Somehow, revealing himself as Adrien Agreste didn't make this cat any more intelligent. 'Twas a shame. "Not quite. See, if we just push whoever opens the door out into the hallway, it'll leave the guards more time to get help. I thought that it would be smarter to actually lure them into the cell, knock them out in here, and leave them behind. And that's where the glass comes in. At home, in the bakery, we have a similar lock. If we can get the glass in between the door and the door frame, we might be able to jam it."

"Might." Adrien looked skeptical. "Well, it's worth a shot. But how are we supposed to get this person into the cell? If I were them, I wouldn't want to leave the doorway and accidentally let you out."

"That's where you come in. As far as they know, you're still unconscious and possibly dead on the floor. If I'm panicked when they come in, saying you haven't moved in hours, they'll want to check on you. I'm assuming they'll have to get close to you to check on whether or not you're alive, so then you quickly swipe that bottle across their eyes and we run, closing the door behind us. Chat!-- I mean-- Adrien, are you listening?"

He straightened up with a salute. "Yes, m'lady-- I mean-- Marinette. You want me to play dead. I'm a good actor. It'll be fun."

Marinette looked at him carefully. He kept referring to her as if she were Ladybug. But there's no way he had put the pieces together.

It was too late to tell the truth now. She had held onto her identity for this long. 

She would tell him someday.

As if on cue, he sighed. "Marinette-- I'm so sorry. You sound just like her. I can't expect you to be Ladybug, but you're doing a hell of a good job." He said this with the weight of someone referring to their dead wife. 

Marinette didn't respond.

\---

Hours passed. Marinette had more than enough time to lean against the wall and think. She thought it would be best to repress her reactions to Adrien's confession, but after the plan was out of her system, she couldn't hold back feelings any more.

Plus, she was sick of thinking about revealing herself.

_ChatNoirisAdrienAgresteandAdrienAgresteisChatNoirChatNoirisAdrienAgresteandAdrienAgresteisChatNoirChatNoirisAdrienAgresteandAdrienAgresteisChatNoirChatNoirisAdrienAgresteandAdrienAgresteisChatNoirChatNoirisAdrienAgresteandAdrienAgresteisChatNoir_

It was so obvious. She was so stupid!

All that time she spent fawning over Adrien-- and he's _CHAT_?

And all that time she spent chasing akumas and fighting with Chat-- that was _ADRIEN_?

And all those times Chat kissed her hand, carried her around, discussed grand plans for growing up and having red spotted cat children? That was Adrien Agreste. Adrien. Agreste.

Chat's flirting was relentless. But had she known that he was Adrien behind the mask, she definitely wouldn't have turned him down over and over again.

Wait. Did that mean that _Adrien_ liked her?

The very idea was enough to make her faint. She wished they had more water.

At the moment, he sat opposite her, fiddling with the sharp bottle-half. His hair was matted and he had a scary-looking scrape on his cheek, but he was still the teen model that most of female France would sell their iPhones to see in person. And he had been coming up with cutesy nicknames for her for almost a year.

He looked at her quizzically. "Are you okay?"

She blushed. "Yeah!" And then, remembering that _Chat_ was asking, she met his gaze and answered honestly. "Nope. But are you?"

"I guess not," he shrugged, and went back to picking at the plastic.

How should she even talk to him anymore?

_Marinette,_ the internal voice she forgot she had said. _You haven't told him you're Ladybug. Adrien doesn't like_ Marinette _, he likes Ladybug._

She felt a rush similar to the one she felt hours ago, standing under the tree in the garden of the Eiffel Tower.

Realizing that a reveal might get her Adrien in the end, she was ready to tell him right then and there, throwing away all her reasons she didn't tell him in the first place. Yeah, all that thinking she did before... Who cared? They were most likely going to die anyway, so why wouldn't she just tell him she was Ladybug?

"Adrien," she started.

"Yep," he answered absently, experimenting with curling the spikes around his finger.

This was a bad idea.

"I haven't been completely honest with you."

That caught his attention. "What?"

It was just her luck that the lock on the door would click right then. The door swung open without warning.

Adrien dove to the floor, clenching the makeshift weapon tightly. Marinette shrunk into the corner.

In her second dramatic, backlit entrance, Ladybug stepped a bit into the room, tossing a second sleeve of crackers and another bottle to the ground. "Did you miss me?" Chloe smirked.

Marinette glanced sideways at Adrien, who didn't visibly react to Chole's voice or disguise. Good.

"Actually, Ladybug,"-- Chole looked somewhat flattered-- "Is this Adrien Agreste? I can't even tell... he hasn't moved since he was put in here. I'm too scared to check for a pulse. Please, could you help--"

"I'm not helping you, idiot. But my master did say to keep him alive, so I guess I'll have to check. Plus, it would be a shame for Adrien to have died in _your_ presence. He deserves better." She took another step into the cell, the door starting to close behind her. Marinette snuck behind her and slid the piece of glass into place. The door didn't shut all the way, which meant the glass was thicker than ideal, but Chloe didn't seem to notice. She kneeled to look more closely at Adrien. He visibly winced.

"He's alive," she said simply, before realizing her mistake. Adrien sat up quickly, bottle raised, but didn't attack her as they originally planned. He just stared at Chloe, at Ladybug, looking stunned and heartbroken. 

"You," he breathed.

"Me," Chloe said.

They looked at each other. Marinette held her breath.

After about a half a minute, it didn't look like Adrien was going to do anything, so Marinette took action herself.

She dove onto Ladybug, pushing her to the cell floor. Chloe screamed, which seemed to shake Adrien out of his trance. He leapt up, grabbed Marinette's hand, and threw open the door.

He took off down the hallway, leaving Marinette to push the door shut before a screaming Ladybug could follow.

She watched him run down the length of the hallway, blinking in the fluorescent light. It was only when he stopped at the end and turned to her before she realized she should follow.

There were no guards to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh! Marinette is too indecisive. This is why she needs Tikki and Alya to function! This girl's serious and logical, and an hour later, ready to do anything for her crush. Sounds a little bit like Ladybug vs. Marinette, eh? Do you see both sides of Marinette as thinking differently, like I do?
> 
> Hope you've enjoyed this chapter with a lot of internal debate and not a lot of action. Sorry. I promise there'll be a whole bunch of action next Tuesday, because half-post-reveal Adrienette is out and about in... actually, I'm not telling you yet. Where are they, anyway? Leave predictions, comments, and constructive criticism in the comments, and thank you so much for reading!
> 
> xoxo
> 
> E


	7. Midday

All Adrien could do was run.

He ran down an infinite hallway, past evenly-spaced doors and lights that hurt his eyes. He couldn't stop running, and he couldn't stop hearing her voice in his head.

_"You."_

_**"Me."** _

It hurt, in fact. Physically. A sharp pain was developing in his side, not unlike the side stitch he had earned running around Paris a million years ago. Although this pain was stabbing a little closer to his heart. 

He had to stop when the hallway took a sharp right. As much as he would like to leave Marinette behind, as much as he needed to be alone, it was his responsibility to keep her safe. So he waited against the wall for her to reach him. She was limping.

The right passage was considerably shorter than the first. At its end, there was a door propped open, revealing a metal spiral staircase leading out of sight. But in a chair about twenty feet ahead was a guard, absorbed in his phone. He looked less like some stereotypical villain or crony and more like a police officer, but a guard was defined only by his job. Adrien didn't know how he didn't hear Ladybug's shrieks, but he was grateful nonetheless.

Marinette put a cautious hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

He pressed his finger against his lips and forced a smile. A weird gesture, but she didn't say anything else, so the message must have been received.

He motioned to the guard. "I've got this," he murmured. "Stand back."

Marinette dutifully stepped backward, frowning.

Adrien liked having a plan, but he didn't have the mental capacity or emotional endurance at that moment to think of one. So he recycled one from earlier. 'Just smack people in the face.'

His side still hurt, but he dove into action as if Chat Noir was just following standard de-akumatizing procedure. With a loud "HEY!" he charged toward the man, ready to leap onto him and knock him out.

The guard jumped and stood up, his phone dropping from his hand onto the concrete. "Master Agreste," he said. "What can I help you with?"

Adrien stopped suddenly. "Master... Agreste?" He looked back at Marinette, who shook her head in confusion. What was this guy talking about?

The guard stood expectantly, and upon closer inspection, it did look as though he was just a police officer. Adrien straightened up and cleared his throat. "My apologies, sir. Are you here watching the prisoners?"

"Please, call me Mike," the officer said, with a nervous glance to his phone on the ground. "And yes, I was here to watch the prisoners as of about an hour ago."

"Ah, um, Mike, for starters, you could tell me what you know about them." _And why you know who I am,_ he added silently.

"Oh. I actually don't know anything about them, Master Agreste. I was just assigned to make sure no one came out of any of the doors down the hall. Surely you know more about them than I do, being the son of Mr. Agreste?"

Adrien's eyes widened. Marinette gasped loudly behind them, revealing herself to the guard.

"Who's there?" Mike barked. "Show yourself, by order of the Paris Police Prefecture."

Marinette stepped carefully out into the hallway. Mike whipped out a handgun from his belt and pointed it at her chest. She didn't flinch, but Adrien did.

"SIR! I mean, Mike!" he said. "She's not a prisoner! She's my friend."

Mike's face turned red. He tucked his gun back into its holster. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Master Agreste. And to you, Mademoiselle." He shifted uncomfortably. "Um, you wouldn't mind not mentioning that little mix-up to your father, would you? Perfectly reasonable mistake to make, right? She was coming from the hallway with prisoners, I just assumed..."

"Don't worry about it," Adrien sighed.

Marinette walked up to stand next to him. "Sir," she said, "Could you also tell us where we are? Adrien and I are actually a little lost right now."

"But of course," Mike said. "You're on the basement floor of Agreste Mansion, mademoiselle."

Chills ran up Adrien's back. He felt his blood drain into his feet and swayed on the spot.

Marinette grabbed his hand, and he almost didn't notice. "Okaythanksbye," she said, and she pulled him to the stairwell and shut the door behind them.

She sat him on the bottom step. "Agreste Mansion, huh? Your dad is behind this. I mean, sorry, but it's true, I guess."

"Yeah, it is." Adrien swallowed, trying to focus on the doorknob to clear the spots from his vision. "And that means that my father is--"

"-- Hawk Moth." Marinette sat down next to him. "I wish I had that water to give you."

Adrien whipped around to look at her. "How did you know that Hawk Moth is behind this?"

"Oh," Marinette said. "Isn't it obvious? I didn't really put the pieces together until you told me you were Chat Noir, but isn't he the villain behind all of the akumas? I just assumed that if Chat Noir is involved, then he must be too, that's all. Hey, and isn't it weird that Hawk Moth is Chat Noir's dad?"

Adrien didn't respond. This was all too much to deal with. His father had kidnapped him and locked him in a secret basement of his own house with a classmate. Ladybug had been a double agent all this time, which meant Hawk Moth-- Father-- now had the Miraculous and their accompanying incomprehensible power.

He would have done anything for more time to think, or more time to just get used to the fact that his partner, his best friend, was working for the very person they had been fighting against for months!

But Paris was depending on him. The least he could do was take back what's  his.

"We need to get the Miraculous right now," Adrien said. "That's the only way we can stop  Father. Who knows what he's done by now? Who knows what his motives for... any of this are?"

Marinette leapt to her feet quite gracefully for someone with an injured leg. "Let's just go upstairs. Do you know of any place the Miraculous may be?"

"I think so," Adrien said. "His office."

She started up the stairs, and Adrien had no choice but to follow her.

\---

It's amazing how much a city can change overnight.

Paris was a cultural empire. It was as beautiful in its landscaping and its architecture as it was inside its historic museums. It was filled with the smell of fresh bread, chocolate, and cigarette smoke and the feeling of wonder and enchantment. So unique was the city of Paris, from its small, independent businesses to its strong bridges and riverside parks, that you could not even begin to describe what sets it apart from other cities.

Most beautiful of all were the Parisian people. They were polite and charismatic, smart and ambitious, loyal and devoted. They lived in the City of Love, the City of Light, and the love poured out of their chests like beacons shining in the darkness of Earth. They may not always have control of their emotions, and they may not always feel the need to do what's right, but they lived passionately.

A wonderful example of a Parisian who lived passionately was Gabriel Agreste.

 Yes, Gabriel Agreste. Or, as Marinette and Adrien have realized, Paris's own Hawk Moth.

Mr. Agreste's childhood is irrelevant. His schooling is irrelevant. His career is irrelevant.

Mr. Agreste was responsible for the safety of his family. He was responsible for raising his son to be bold and confident and smart and kind. He was responsible for loving his son and wanting only the best for him. 

He was responsible for keeping those who wanted to do them harm far, far away. He was responsible for his wife's death.

So he will be responsible for bringing her back, whatever the cost.

Now, Paris lay in ruins. Smoke rose from brick buildings across the river. Children cried in the streets. Sirens tore through the fog of the morning, and carried on into the heat of day. Trees fell. Crushed cars littered the streets. Paris was still unique, but was now unique in the fact that it was almost gone.

Gabriel Agreste couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. He had payed the price, but he was still alone. And his city was destroyed.

Casting the Miraculous aside, he paced his office. When he was sick of watching the world burn, he paced Hawk Moth's office. The mansion's security system was activated when he could no longer stand having windows.

What had gone wrong? He had thought luck was on his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was the destruction of Paris enough action for you? Oh, we all knew it was coming. Let's hope Alya and Nino and Marinette's parents are okay!
> 
> Poor, poor Adrien. Seriously. Someone give Adrien a hug. Leave your Adrien hugs in the comments, folks, as well as your reactions and constructive criticism!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, and see you soon! I'll try to update by Tuesday, but that happens to be my very first day of high school so I can't make any promises. I will be back next week at some point.
> 
> Love y'all!
> 
> -E


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